Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) is proliferating. UAVs are used for a variety of applications such as search and rescue, inspections, security, surveillance, scientific research, aerial photography and video, surveying, cargo delivery, and the like. With the proliferation, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is providing regulations associated with the use of UAVs. Existing air traffic control in the United States is performed through a dedicated air traffic control network, i.e., the National Airspace System (NAS). However, it is impractical to use the existing air traffic control network for UAVs because of the sheer quantity of UAVs. Also, it is expected that UAVs will be autonomous, requiring communication for flight control as well. There will be a need for systems and methods to provide air traffic control and communication to UAVs.
There is a great deal of discussion and anticipation for using drones for applications such as package delivery. For example, online stores, brick & mortar stores, restaurants, etc. can use drones to provide delivery to end consumers. As the number of applications increase and the number of UAVs concurrently in flight also increase, there are various issues that have to be addressed relative to air traffic control.
As UAV use proliferates, there is a need to coordinate flying lanes to avoid collisions, obstructions, etc. Of course, with UAV use as a hobby, collision avoidance is not a major concern. However, once UAVs begin widespread delivery applications, collisions will be a major problem due to the potential damage to deliveries as well as threats to people and property on the ground. Thus, there is a need for flying lane management systems and methods.
Further, it is expected that there will be orders of magnitude more UAVs in flight in any geographic region, zone, coverage area, etc. than regular aircraft. Accordingly, conventional monitoring systems and methods are inadequate to support UAV monitoring. Thus, there is a need for optimized UAV monitoring systems and methods.
Further, obstructions on or near the ground pose a significant risk to UAVs as most UAVs fly only several hundred feet above the ground, unlike airplanes which fly at thousands of feet above the ground. Stated differently, air traffic control for airplanes focuses on other airplanes primarily whereas air traffic control for UAVs must deal with other UAVs and with near ground obstructions.
Additionally, obstructions on or near the ground are different from in-air obstructions (other aircraft) and require additional management. That is, it is not enough to simply note a single location (e.g., Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinate) since these obstructions may be of varying sizes, heights, etc.
Further, with the expected growth of UAVs, there will be situations where UAVs are in distress, failure, unauthorized, in no-fly zones, etc. and there exists a need for techniques to shutdown and/or cause immediate landing of these UAVs. Importantly, an uncontrolled shutdown and/or landing could be hazardous to physical structures, vehicles, people, etc. on the ground. Thus, there exists a need to coordinate shutdowns and/or landings of UAVs when needed.